PharmCo Manufacturing Operates a Contract Manufacturing Plant in London, England

Essay

PharmCo Manufacturing operates a contract manufacturing plant in London, England.The plant produces a variety of pharmaceutical drugs for companies around the world.Cycle time is a critical success factor for PharmCo, which has developed a number of measures of manufacturing speed.The company has studied the matter and found that competitive contract manufacturers have manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE) time of about 40 percent.When last measured, PharmCo's MCE was 35 percent.At PharmCo, cycle time is defined as beginning at the point when the order taking is complete.
Some key measures from the most recent month's production, averaged over all the jobs during the period, are as follows: $$\begin{array} { l c } \text { Activity } & \text { Average Number of Hours } \\\hline \text { New product development } & 45 \\\text { Materials handling } & 4 \\\text { Order setup } & 6 \\\text { Machine maintenance } & 4 \\\text { Order scheduling } & 2 \\\text { Inspection of completed order } & 7 \\\text { Packaging and move to storage or ship } & 2 \\\text { Manufacturing } & 21 \\\text { Order taking and verification } & 2 \\\text { Raw materials receipt and stocking } & 6 \\\text { Inspection of raw materials } & 2 \\\hline\end{array}$$ Required:
Determine the MCE time for the most recent month.What can you infer from the MCE time that you calculated?